Naming Ceremonies
Naming
Ceremony for a Child
The research appears to strongly
support the conclusion that same-sex couples
foster the same wholesome environment as
opposite-sex couples and suggests that the
traditional notion that children need a mother
and father to be raised into healthy, well-adjusted
adults is based more on stereotype than anything
else.
- Footnote 26 of the Iowa Supreme
Court decision on same-sex marriage
Naming Ceremonies (sometimes called namegiving
ceremonies) are highly personal and meaningful family
occasions. Usually the centrepiece of a much wider
family event, the naming day, it might also be part of
your child's first birthday celebration.
In the ceremony we celebrate the birth, the birth plus
reaching the milestone of the first birthday, or the
adoption of your child and express your personal values
and your commitment to parenting your child.
A naming ceremony can also be held to celebrate other
situations such as fostering or the creation of new
family relationships through a couple entering into a
lifelong partnership.
While fees and services of celebrants vary widely, you
would expect to pay a higher fee for a custom-created
ceremony with substance that, through both its language
and its style reflects who you are, and creates a
blueprint for your parenting of your child.
Because there is no legal requirement for authorisation
to perform a naming ceremony, there is wide variation in
experience and skill among naming celebrants. This truly
is a situation where you won't get what you don't pay
for and may bitterly disappointed if not horrified by
what an unskilled person says and does at the ceremony,
particularly if he or she mindlessly ignores your
personal situation and uses standard material lauding
the importance of opposite sex parents and traditional
families.
Unless you specifically request religious inclusions I
assume that the naming ceremony will be secular.
However, if you wish to include some religious
references or contact you may. This may be a good
compromise where you yourselves are not religious but
someone important to you is. Or it can be a way of
acknowledging dual religious or cultural heritages
within a largely secular (non-religious) ceremony.
The ceremony itself performs no legal function. It does
not replace your legal obligation to register your
child's birth with the Registry Office. Where you choose
to call the adult sponsors you appoint guardians rather
than godparents, mentors, or other term, the appointment
as part of the ceremony is neither legal and binding. To
nominate legal guardians you need to include that
nomination in your will. A solicitor can provide advice
about how to do this.
A naming ceremony does, however, perform a very
important social function.
- It provides a formal opportunity for you to
publicly clarify to your community of family and
friends how you want to support your child as he or
she grows
- It joyfully welcomes your child to the
family and to the wider community
- It provides an opportunity to share the wonder,
joy and pride you feel
- It is a reminder of the great responsibility
involved in raising a child
- It is a formal mechanism to appoint godparents
(defined in modern dictionaries as someone who acts
as a godparent or is a sponsor or protector - other
terms can be used) and honour other significant
adults, such as grandparents, who will have
important roles in the nurturing and supporting the
child
- It provides you, as the parent(s) with an
opportunity to acknowledge your gratitude to family,
friends, and particularly godparents (also called
guardians, sponsors, mentors, guideparents.
life guides or any term you choose) for their
involvement in your child's life
- It provides a formal opportunity for significant
adults to commit to supporting and nurturing the
child and each other.
Because a naming ceremony has no legal function (but
then, neither does a christening) it is extremely
flexible. It can be structured as you wish, and include
readings, rituals and personal recognition of anyone you
wish.
There are no age limits. You can hold a ceremony for a
young baby, at any time during the child's first year,
or, as is very common, in conjunction with the child's
first birthday celebrations, or when the child is older.
Each age has its special characteristics. Where the
child is older he or she should be included in the
ceremony planning process so that his or her own views
about what is said and done in the ceremony are taken
into account.
A naming ceremony can also be held in conjunction with a
marriage ceremony, a commitment ceremony, or a
reaffirmation of vows.
Naming ceremonies are suitable for natural or adopted
children of families of all kinds. A variation on a
naming ceremony can also be used to embrace a child of
your partner by a previous relationship.
The value of the ceremony is in the ceremony itself, in
the way it can strengthen the bonds between parents and
the child(ren),parents and grandparents, parents and
other supporting adults, <>significant adults and
the child(ren).
When you do me the honour of choosing me to be your
celebrant, I can guarantee that you will have a naming
ceremony that is personal, inclusive and
relationship-strengthening, light-hearted in the
appropriate places, and authentic to your beliefs and
values
At the ceremony you will receive a beautifully presented
keepsake copy of the ceremony and a naming certificate
tailored to the number of godparents, guideparents,
mentors (you choose what you wish to call them) and to
your family situation.
Other items I bring with me to enhance your ceremony
include rose petals, gum leaves, or basil leaves to use
in naming your child, a container to hold these, a
naming register, a quality pen for the signing.
Creative use of symbols such as candles, wishing stones,
trees, mementos, gifts, items of family
significance, together with innovative inclusion of
references to your child's ancestry and cultural
background are a feature of all of my ceremonies.
Naming
Ceremony for an Adult
There are a number of
reasons why an adult may wish to have a naming or
re-naming ceremony. Any or all can be accommodated in
a sensitive and celebratory ceremony.